POET AFRICA AND UNITED STATESPhillis Wheatley not only belongs squarely in the Black American literary tradition; she, almost single-handedly, succeeded in creating that tradition.
—WILLIAM H. ROBINSON, BIOGRAPHER
The terrified young African girl stood on the platform, shivering in front of the white crowd. She had hardly any clothes on, and her bare feet ached. The sights and sounds of Boston harbor were strange and unfamiliar; she longed for her home across the ocean. Alone in the world since she was kidnapped from her family, she looked out at the white faces and wondered sadly whose home she would be going to now. This seven-year-old girl was about to be sold into slavery.
At that time, many families in the American colonies owned slaves to do housework and other tasks. On that summer day in Boston in 1761, Susannah Wheatley set out to buy a slave for her household. Susannah was searching for someone who would be a companion for her, someone who would help fill the void when her own daughter married and left home.
Among the many captured Africans standing before her, Susannah noticed the young, fragile, barefoot girl. She brought the child home, hoping she would work hard at her chores and be someone to talk with. But this young slave was destined for greater things. She was extraordinarily bright and talented, and she would overcome incredible odds to become an internationally famous poet.
Like many African slaves, not much is certain about Phillis’s origins. She was probably born in 1753 and may have been from the Fula tribe in western Africa. At the time, slave traders kidnapped African children and brought them to America for sale. Phillis arrived in Boston in 1761 after a long and treacherous voyage across the Atlantic aboard a slave ship. When the Wheatleys purchased her, they gave her the name Phillis and, according to custom, she took their last name as her own.
Phillis shocked everyone with her incredible intelligence. She was able to read English in just sixteen months, and by the age of twelve, she began to study Latin. Phillis loved to read, but her passion was poetry. When she was just fourteen years old, Phillis started to publish her poems.
Luckily, the Wheatleys were supportive of Phillis’s creativity. Many slaves were treated harshly, but Phillis was encouraged to read and write whenever she could.
Phillis kept a pen and ink near her bed, and the Wheatleys let her keep a fire burning all night during the winter so she would have a warm room and would be ready to write, should inspiration strike.
As a teenager, Phillis became a celebrity in Boston because of her poetry. She often visited prominent families and held her own in conversations with the most educated people of the city. Phillis definitely enjoyed special privileges, but the fact remained that she was a slave. She still had to deal with the overwhelming racial injustice of the time.
When Phillis was seventeen, she wrote a poem that would bring her world recognition and fame. The poem was for a minister who had recently died, and it was published throughout the American colonies and later in London as well. A few years later, a book of Phillis’s poetry was published in London, and Phillis traveled to England for the first time. Phillis was the first African American woman to be published. She was also the first African American author, male or female, to have a book of poetry published.
Phillis Wheatley is still inspiring writers today. On the 200th anniversary of the publication of Phillis’s book of poetry, African American women poets from around the United States gathered at a festival to celebrate her legacy.
In 1775, Phillis wrote a poem to honor George Washington, the commander of the American army who would soon become the president of the United States. Her poem ends:
Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,
Thy ev’ry action let the goddess guide.
A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,
With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! be thine.
Washington was very impressed with the poem and invited Phillis to visit him at his headquarters in Cambridge. Just imagine how nervous she must have been! But Phillis swallowed her fear and had a successful half-hour visit with America’s most famous leader and his military officers.
By this time, Phillis was free from slavery, having been manumitted (freed) by the Wheatleys soon after her book of poetry was published. Despite the fact that much of Phillis’s life was spent as a slave, her poetry often celebrated freedom. Her poems were also about Christianity, and many were elegies for famous people and personal acquaintances. Her success as a poet was remarkable, but when you think about the huge obstacles she faced as a woman, an African, and a slave in Colonial America, her accomplishments become truly extraordinary.
AGE 13